Sindh home minister orders release of arrested teachers
Asif Ali Zardari had earlier directed authorities to immediately release protesting teachers
KARACHI: Sindh Home Minister Suhail Anwar Khan Siyal ordered the release of arrested teachers who were protesting non-payment of salaries outside the Karachi Press Club here on Thursday.
The orders came after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari took notice of police torturing the protestors.
Zardari had directed the chief minister and provincial education minister to hold talks with teachers’ representatives and resolve their genuine issues. He had directed concerned authorities for theimmediate release of detained protesters.
Earlier today, the police had tear-gassed and baton-charged protestors, who were trying to make way toward the Bilawal House on the eleventh day of their ongoing protest.
At least ten protesting teachers were arrested and two injured in the process, according to a spokesperson of the teachers' union.
The road leading toward the press club and the American Embassy in Karachi wereblocked, this correspondent reported.
A large group of the protesting teachers, however, reached Burns Road via the Regal roundabout route, from where it is headed toward Bilawal House.
The provincial government hired the protesting teachers in 2012 and has not paid them since then for their services, the protestors claim.